Unit 8

Sex Roles

Man for the field and woman for the hearth;Man for the sword and the needle she;Man with the head and woman with the heart;Man to command and woman to obey;All else confusion.—ALFRED, LORD TENNYSON

• Many, if not all, of the personality traits which we have called masculine or femi nine are as lightly linked to sex as are the clothing, the manners, and the form of headdress that a society at any given period assigns to either sex.

—MARGARET MEAD

• How is it that this world has always belonged to the men?

-- SIMONE DE BEAUVOIR

Questions

• What do you think is the proper male or female relation?

• What do you know about feminist view about male-female relation in this world?

P1

• A role in a play is a part for an actor; it includes certain scripted actions, ways of walking, talking, expressing feelings, and so forth. A sex role is a part that an individual plays as a social actor — the patterns of feeling and behavior deemed appropriate or inappropriate because of her or his gender. The “script” comes from social expectations about masculine and feminine nature: men should be brave, strong, ambitious, and aggressive, while keeping their feelings under control: women should be gentle, nurturant, passive, dependent, and expressive of their feelings.

deem: think of sth. in a particular way; consider

• They deemed that he was no longer capable of managing the business.

• They were told to take whatever action they deemed necessary.

What does the paragraph do?• A role in a play is a part for an actor; it includes certain s

cripted actions, ways of walking, talking, expressing feelings, and so forth.

• A sex role is a part that an individual plays as a social actor — the patterns of feeling and behavior deemed appropriate or inappropriate because of her or his gender.

• The “script” comes from social expectations about masculine and feminine nature: men should be brave, strong, ambitious, and aggressive, while keeping their feelings under control: women should be gentle, nurturant, passive, dependent, and expressive of their feelings.

• It defines a sex role.

P2• Sex roles are based on social norms the agreed-

upon standards of acceptable behavior within a society. These norms — such as the norms that men should keep their feelings under control and women should be passive — influence our judgments not only of others but also of ourselves. Thus, if you are male and prone to tears during highly emotional moments or female and likely to dominate classroom discussions and arguments, you may judge yourself harshly because you have internalized traditional sex-role assumptions. Sex roles, then, are part of our concept of ourselves, our gender identity.

norm : n. 标准 ,规范• Criminal behavior seem to be the norm in this ne

ighborhood. 犯罪行为似乎是这一带的正常现象。

• Holding the view that the ego is the center, object, and norm of all experience.

自我中心的认为自我是所有的中心、对象和经验的标准的

• Synonyms: standard

normcriterion

prone: having a tendency; inclined• be prone to: be likely to; be liable to (esp.

sth. bad or harmful)

• “To err is human” means everyone is prone to make mistakes.

• Although they are always at the center of things, they tend to be loners and are prone to stress when life becomes difficult.

harshly: severely, cruelly, or unkindly

• His theory was criticized harshly by his colleagues.

• History is apt to judge harshly those who sacrifice tomorrow for today.

Which is the topic sentence of the paragraph?

• Sex roles, then, are part of our concept of ourselves, our gender identity.

P3• Sex roles are of great interest to psychologists,

sociologists, and other social scientists. Psychologists focus primarily on “inner” personality traits and stereotypes associated with femininity and masculinity, while sociologists emphasize patterns of “outer” behavior or interaction in society. For example, a sociologist studying the paid labor force of the United States would note that most truck drivers are male while most nurses are female. Family sociologists have studied the inclination of judges in child custody cases to assume that mothers are innately better at parenting than fathers.

stereotype : a belief or idea of what a particular type of person or things is like (often unfair or

untrue) • Regional stereotypes have been part of America

since its founding: Westerners are trendy, Mid westerners are dull, Northeasterners are brainy, and Southerners are lazy.

• When I saw the big smiles in the faces of the German students, the stereotype of Germans (rigid, somewhat humorless and obsessed with order and formality) melted.

inclination: a preference or tendency; a feeling that makes a person want to do sth

• You always follow your own inclinations instead of considering other people’s feelings. I have no inclination to follow my mother into accountancy

custody : the right to take care of a child, given to one of their parents when they have divorced

• It is usually the mother who is awarded custody.

• Allen is fighting a bitter custody battle over his three children.

What does the paragraph try to explain?

• Relations between sex roles and sociology

P4• How do gender differences come about? Do sex

roles result from biological differences between the sexes? Or do women and men learn to behave differently because of the effects of culture and society?

• The following is a summary of the paragraph. Complete the sentence.

• Is sex role a question of _______ or _________?nature nurture

P6

• Does this mean that women’s brains function differently than men’s, that they are not as equipped to do math problems? Does it mean that the male power structure — which for so long prohibited women from receiving any type of formal education — is still inhibiting women in the traditionally male preserves of math and science? Or is it that women lose interest in these subjects because they fear that achievement in math and science will make them less attractive to men?

male power structure

• What does the phrase refer to?

• today’s society

inhibit: hold back; restrain

• Apparently the painter didn’t give the picture a name, fearing that would inhibit the range of opinions and emotions evoked in the viewers.

• Recording the meeting may inhibit people from expressing their real views

preserve: an activity that is only suitable or allowed for a particular group of people

• The civil service became the preserve of the educated middle class.

• The English language is not the special preserve of grammarians, language police, teachers, writers, or the intellectual elite .

P8• No one disputes that there are biological

differences between the sexes. The controversy arises, however, when we try to establish links between these biological differences and the behavior of men and women. Specifically, does biology limit the potential achievements of one or both sexes?

• Rewrite the paragraph into one sentence in your own words

• People disagree on the sex role in sociology although they agree on the sex difference in biology.

P9• Men and women differ in their genetic structure. Women have

two “X” chromosomes; men have one “X” and one “Y” chromosome. The complex links between genes and behavior are now being researched; it is impossible to say at this time how differences in chromosome structure may affect women’s and men’s behavior. We do know that genetic structure deter mines physical development. The average male is taller, heavier, and more muscular than the average female. Women develop breasts and can bear and nurse children: men cannot.

• What is the message of the paragraph?• Genetic structure deter mines physical development

P10• It is not unreasonable to assume that men did

the hunting and heavier physical labor in earlier societies because they were better suited to do so, while women raised the children because they could breast-feed them and food was scarce. Perhaps these differing behavioral pat terns for women and men in such societies were the result of adaptation; that is, the traits helped them to survive and reproduce at a time when subsistence was a full-time job. But should these differences matter in an industrialized era in which most heavy labor is done by machines and even the fighting of wars relies on sophisticated technology?

subsistence: the condition of only just having enough money or food to stay alive

• Many of the families are forced to live at the subsistence level.

• When accompanied by minimum subsistence pensions, as in Britain, retirement means economic dependency.

Rewrite this sentence in simple words

• Subsistence was a full-time job

• It is hard to live

• It is not unreasonable to assume that men did the hunting and heavier physical labor in earlier societies because they were better suited to do so, while women raised the children because they could breast-feed them and food was scarce. Perhaps these differing behavioral pat terns for women and men in such societies were the result of adaptation; that is, the traits helped them to survive and reproduce at a time when subsistence was a full-time job. But should these differences matter in an industrialized era in which most heavy labor is done by machines and even the fighting of wars relies on sophisticated technology?

• What does the paragraph want to tell us?• Physical difference resulted from the hard living

conditions in the past.

p11• Researchers have speculated that certain behavioral

differences are due to male and fe male hormones. Both men and women produce the male hormone, androgen, and the fe male hormone, estrogen, but in differing quantities. The male embryo’s “y” chromosome gives a “command” to release androgen at specific stages of prenatal development. The hormone signals the embryo to develop as a male, with male body shape and male sexual organs. Later on, hormones influence bodily changes during puberty; for example, andro gen gives signals to the male’s body for the growth of facial and body hair and for the deepening of the voice.

speculate: guess about the possible causes or effects of something, without knowing all the facts or details

• Edward began to speculate on what life would be like if he were single again.

• We don’t know why the prehistoric stone circles were built. We can only speculate.

• Researchers have speculated that certain behavioral

differences are due to male and fe male hormones. Both men and women produce the male hormone, androgen, and the fe male hormone, estrogen, but in differing quantities. The male embryo’s “y” chromosome gives a “command” to release androgen at specific stages of prenatal development. The hormone signals the embryo to develop as a male, with male body shape and male sexual organs. Later on, hormones influence bodily changes during puberty; for example, andro gen gives signals to the male’s body for the growth of facial and body hair and for the deepening of the voice.

• In what way does the author prove that behavioral differences are due to male and female hormones?

• Describe the effects of hormones at different times (chronic description)

P12-13• Thus, hormones clearly play a role in human physical de

velopment. But what effect do they have on emotional development and actual behavior? Again, this question is still being debated and studied. Some research shows that the male hormone testosterone appears to stimulate aggressive behavior in female animals. At the same time, a female hormone, prolactin, seems to stimulate nurturing, motherly activity in male animals.

• John Money and his colleagues have conducted studies on those rare individuals known as hermaphrodites who are a mixture of male and female biology. The researchers have looked, for example, at girls who received more androgen at birth than is normal for females. While genetically they were girls with XX chromosomes, they behaved more like our society ex pects boys to act. That is, they enjoyed rough games, were physically active, and preferred toy trucks to dolls. Money speculates that early exposure to the male hormone influenced the behavior of these girls.

P14• Hormones may also have an impact on certain differences in brain f

unctions. Jerre Levy of the University of Chicago has found differences in the way male and female brains are organized. In Levy’s view, men’s brains work in such a way as to give them superior visual spatial skills, while women’s brains may give them an advantage in verbal skills. Men are therefore better at dealing with abstract concepts; women are more effective in picking up information from the surrounding environment about people, sounds, and so forth. These brain differences may result from the release of certain hormones at critical periods of prenatal development.

The paragraph focuses on A. Levy’s study on differences between male and female brain functions.B. Hormones’ function on human brains.C. male’s visual-spatial skills and female’s verbal skillsD. the effect of different functions of male and female brains.

B. Hormones’ function on human brains.

P15• From the point of view of human evolution, such differen

ces make sense. Men were the hunters and needed good visual skills. In addition, they had to be extremely goal-oriented to succeed in their work. Women lived in groups and took care of children and the sick; thus, sensitivity to others was a crucial skill. As noted earlier, the development of these patterns had an adaptive value in terms of survival and reproduction.

The paragraph A. further explains the different effects on the brain by horm

ones.B. emphasizes the evolution of human society.C. discusses the function of hormones in the way brain wor

ks.D. exploits the sociological cause of the brain different funct

ions.D. exploits the sociological cause of the brain different functions.

P16• Still, we must emphasize that the research on hormonal effe

cts remains at an early and primi tive stage. The biological differences between the sexes which exist serve only as loose boundaries within which culturally learned differences appear. For example, while prenatal exposure to androgen may have predisposed the girls in Money’s study toward more aggressive, “boyish” behavior, they also needed a social environment that would encourage (or at least allow) such behavior.

The message the writer wants to convey in this paragraph isA. we should not believe in the present findings about brain fun

ction difference without questioning them.B. these early findings already prove that hormones play a dec

isive role in brain function difference.C. social environment plays an equally important role in the det

ermination of gender behavior in the girls Money studied.D. what we learn about the cause of brain function difference i

s not scientific enough to be applied in practice.

A. we should not believe in the present findings about brain function difference without questioning them.

P17-18• Estelle Ramey points out that while men and women var

y as groups in their respective levels of male and female hormones, there can also be striking hormonal differences between one man and another or one woman and another. Ramey stresses that these individual differences in levels of testosterone, estrogen, and other hormones are much more significant than any generalized differences between the sexes.

• Thus, while the biological basis for sex-related distinctions is important, the role that society and culture play is probably more significant. Our biological nature may be like a rough piece of stone from which society, like a sculptor, chisels, sharpens, and defines the shapes of male and female behavior. Research in the next decade should begin to clarify the complex inter relationship of genetic and hormonal differences, environmental influences, and the behavior of women and men.

P20• Margaret Mead, in her pioneering anthropological study, Sex an

d Temperament in Three Primitive Societies, observed three distinct tribes in New Guinea. She found that one of them, the Arapesh, expected both women and men to be warm, cooperative, and nurturing, and generally to exhibit traits that we have traditionally described as “feminine.” By contrast, among the Mundugumor tribe, both sexes exhibit traits seen as “masculine” in American society: they were aggressive, competitive, and prone to fighting and controversy. Finally, in the Tchambuli tribe, the character traits seemed the reverse of those expected under our traditional norms Women were dominant controlling and hardworking while men were emotionally dependent, irresponsible, and extremely concerned about personal appearance. Mead’s famous study is often cited by those who argue against the view that biology is the cause of sex differences. If biological distinctions dictate our behavior, they argue, then how can one explain the vast differences in the lives of the Arapesh, the Mundugumor, and the Tcharnbuli — not to mention the difference between these three cultures and our own’?

• Words of masculine characteristics in the paragraph

• Words of feminine characteristics in the paragraph

aggressive, competitive, prone to fighting and controversy, dominant controlling and hardworking

warm, cooperative, nurturing, emotionally dependent, irresponsible, and extremely concerned about personal appearance

Sum up the gender characteristics in the following

cultures in terms of American culture.

Arapesh :

Mundugamor :

Tchambuli :

both males and females: feminine

both males and females: masculine

males: feminine females: masculine

stereotyped aggressive inhibit subsistence socialize perceive masculine prone disapproval speculate

1. This hostile and __________ attitude towards the host country evidently grows out of the genuine difficulty which the visitor experiences in the adjustment process.

2. Many teachers have __________ opinions concerning naughty pupils.

3. It is natural for people to have hope, admiration, and jealousy. To __________ such feelings is cruel because it goes against human nature.

aggressive

stereotyped

inhibit

stereotyped aggressive inhibit subsistence socialize perceive masculine prone disapproval speculate

4. Some research suggests that women with __________-sounding names such as “Sam” and “Chris” are more successful in the business world.

5. It’s said that in Slav areas it is not wise to nod approval or shake one’s head in __________.

6. In this poverty-stricken area, many of the families are forced to live at the __________ level.

7. We must first understand the ordinary rules of stability and the pervasive patterns of natural history before we can __________ on the origin of the major body plans.

masculine

disapproval

subsistence

speculate

stereotyped aggressive inhibit subsistence socialize perceive masculine prone disapproval speculate

8. He was only able to __________ black and white; he could not see properly.

9. In recnet years, young parents, female professionals, and well-educated parents are more likely to __________ their children into more equal gender roles.

10. Men are more __________ to revenge injuries than to requite kindness, says Thomas Fuller.

perceive

socialize

prone